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What Gonzalo Higuain's £75m Move Means For Juventus, Serie A & European Football

The biggest transfer of the summer so far has been completed and it’s a huge one: Gonzalo Higuain has joined Juventus in a £75.3 millio...

The biggest
transfer of the summer so far has been completed and it’s a huge one: Gonzalo
Higuain has joined Juventus in a £75.3 million deal from Napoli.

But just how
big is this transfer and what effects will it have across football? We break
down the implications of an astronomical deal…

The Transfer Fee

Juventus have
agreed to pay the full €90 million release clause to sign the 28-year-old
striker, who has scored a remarkable 71 goals in 104 Serie A matches for
Napoli, including 36 in 35 last season to break the all-time record for a
single season.

That works
out as £75.3m, putting the Higuain deal onto the podium of all-time transfer
fees paid, behind Real Madrid’s world record captures of Cristiano Ronaldo
(£80m in 2009) and Gareth Bale (£85m in 2013).

That makes
the fee the biggest ever which was not breaking the world record and the
biggest both paid and received by an Italian club. Higuain is also the most
costly South American player of all time, surpassing Neymar.

As well as becoming the third most expensive player of all time, Tuesday’s deal makes the striker the third most expensive player ever when you take into account combined transfer fees.

Angel Di
Maria unexpectedly tops the list - with Nicolas Anelka holding up surprisingly
well despite last moving for a transfer fee in 2008 when he joined Chelsea from
Bolton for £15m.

The impact on European football

we have new,
serious contenders for the Champions League? It may seem like a silly question
to ask of a club which contested the final just two years ago, but the truth is
that Europe’s biggest prize has really been the domain of a handful of clubs in
recent years: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Even if they
do lose Paul Pogba (see below), Juventus are still putting together a
remarkably strong team - and, just as importantly, a remarkably strong squad
too. As well as signing Higuain to bring in Serie A’s best goalscorer, they
have also added playmaker Miralem Pjanic from Roma for £27m, 21-year-old
Croatian sensation Marko Pjaca from Dinamo Zagreb for £19m, Dani Alves on a
free from Barcelona and centre-back Medhi Benatia on loan from Bayern Munich.
This is the starting XI that Juventus will be able to put out next season:

As well as a
subs’ bench featuring this lot: Mario Mandzukic, Hernanes, Alex Sandro,
Benatia, Pjaca, Simone Zaza, Stephan Lichtsteiner. Without question Juventus
will be one of the best clubs in European football next season. They could even
challenge for their first Champions League trophy since 1996.

The impact on Serie A

Juventus
have won the past five league titles in Italy but this summer has made Serie A
even less competitive.

Napoli were the closest finishers to Juve last season as
they claimed 82 points to Juve’s 91 but now they have been shorn of the
inspiration striker who allowed them to even get that close. Roma were third,
just two points behind Napoli, but have already lost their creative inspiration
Miralem Pjanic this summer to, you guessed it, Juventus.

The competitive
imbalance in Italy was already starting to resemble Paris Saint-Germain’s
domination of the French league - and the Higuain deal will only make it worse,
even if Paul Pogba does leave. Andrea Tabacco from our Italian office tells us:

" It
means Juventus finally attain the status of a big club of Europe like
Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Chelsea and so on.

Yes, unfortunately there’s the risk of a national league which lacks
entertainment and without competition, but, you know, the ball is circle, even
if Juventus could win the Italian title in March, as Bayern Munich and PSG did
last season. From this point of view Italy is more similar to Bundesliga and
Ligue 1 after this deal."

The Ripple Effect

Ah yes,
Pogba. With Juventus committing such a huge amount of money to the Higuain
deal, they will now let the midfielder go this summer. His departure was almost
certain in any case but this likely means it is inevitable.

Reports say
Juve are holding out for €120m (£100m), which Manchester United may be prepared
to pay. With Real Madrid also sniffing around, Juve won’t have to sell on the
cheap.

As for
Napoli, just an hour after news of the Higuain deal broke it was revealed that
they have agreed to sign Ajax’s Polish striker Arkadiusz Milik, who will cost
€35m (£30m) - which is itself a record fee for a club from the Netherlands. The
Higuain effect is already being felt.Photo credit: Bleacher Report